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ETIQUETTE 



OF 



Society at the National Capital. 



Mary Pollok Nimmo. 



washinoton, d. c. 

Gibson Bbos., Printers and Bookbimdebs. 

1892. 



/ 



ETIQUETTE <.^ 



\7^fO 



OF 



Society at the National Capital, 



Mary Pollok Nimmo. 



OCT 1© 




washington, d. c. 

Gibson Buos., Printers and Bookuindkks. 

1892. 



V 



yh 



^'> 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the j'ear 1892, by Mary Pollok Nimmo, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



The President's House. 

It is generally conceded tliat Washington, tlie capital of 
the greatest nation upon the earth, is the most charming 
residence city of the world. Hither the tribes of the 
Avealthy, the gifted in art and literature, the statesmen and 
patriots, and the polite go up from all the known centres of 
culture and civilization on the globe for annual communion 
and comparison of ideas. The city is one of the most 
beautiful of all the notable contemporary seats of gov- 
ernment, with its broad avenues and blooming parks 
and parterres, shaded by grand oaks and elms ; its mag- 
nificent jDublic structures and private palaces, and its sweet 
Southern airs and balm}' breezes blowing from the Virginia 
bills and the Maryland mountains. Its society enjoys the 
deliciously caressing hospitality of its Southern element, 
the luxury and bounty of the men of colossal fortune and 
great enterprise, the polished manners of foreigners of 
repute, the brilliant conversation of statesmen, wits, artists, 
and authors, and the presence of beautiful and cultured 
belles and matrons and handsome men. All of this and 
much more go to make Washington not only the Paradise 
of the Potomac, but also to give us a society free from local - 
prejudices and marked by the cosmopolitan features of a 
great and veritable capital. The chief enchantment of the 
National Capital is in her j^eople and their friendly and easy 
commingling together. The Southern people, who were the 
first residents of the District, set the fashion of a simple 
but generous hospitality which is now adoj)ted by all 
comers ami is growing from year to 3'ear into customs of 
more and more elaborate and luxurious entertaining. The 
peculiarities of the social code at Washington, arising from 



its principal personages being mainly in official life, with its:^ 
manifold disputed questions of precedence, are most per- 
jalexing to new arrivals in our midst, whether they come in 
an official capacity or to private life. In the absence of an 
authoritative code covering all points, we shall give in this 
review the prevailing forms in society at the Capital, those 
in practice at the present day in the exchange of civilities 
and ceremonials. The logical destiny of form in society 
here is that its grand events include one great social circle 
in which move the official and local resident j)eople. The 
genius of it is primarily opposed to the abomination of the 
desolation of a scheme of society circulating in distinct and 
remote rings. Broken into a number of small cliques and 
coteries we should present a forlorn aspect. Every man is 
entitled to entertain his own friends in his own way and in 
his own time^ and if he do it at all let it be not upon a cir- 
cumscribed scale, but ujDon the broad and beautiful plan 
upon which our city and our Constitution have been raised. 
The distinctive feature of Washington society would be 
eliminated were its votaries to do other than to revolve 
about its one head-centre — the Lady of the "White House. 
The world of fashion and of state with one mind accord 
to the President and his wife the position of the first 
gentleman and lady of the land, and they are at all times 
and places, which they honor with their presence, given 
precedence. At a reception where they are guests none 
other should partake of refreshments until the President 
and his wife have been served. The President and his wife 
go to dine only at the homes of the Cabinet ministers, and 
they receive all visits without being exjjected to return any.. 
Other members of the President's family receive and pay 
visits to their friends after the fashion that obtains in polite 
society. The President and Mrs. Harrison visit their friends 
outside of then- official family, as the members of the 



•Cabinet aiitl their families are called, and they have been 
quests at several marriag-es that were celebrated among 
their friends, and also at dinners, and Mrs. Harrison has 
been the guest of honor at several luncheons given by ladies 
of her acquaintance. 

President Harrison walks about the streets of the city 
with perfect freedom, and all gentlemen salute him by un- 
covering when they meet His Excellency. During the sea- 
son Mrs. Harrison receives visits from ladies desirous of 
making her accjuaiutance by special appointments arranged 
through correspondence and notes of introduction from 
mutual friends, but these are rare occasions and seldom 
necessary, as the families of all officials and other friends 
of the Presidential family have many opportunities of see- 
ing and conversing with the lady of the White House at the 
many social functions over which she presides during the 
winter, and may present those desirous of the honor, with- 
out special announcement. With a simple presentation aU 
ladies will satisfy themselves when they realize the multi- 
tude and variety of the demands made upon the time and 
strength of the wife of the President, and so will not seek 
to add weight to the burden of duties carried by the lady 
of the White House. It is a custom here, and a very pretty 
one, too, for mothers with debutante daughters to present 
them at the Executive Mansion quietly before introducing 
them formally to their friends. 

The official season is formally opened on New Year's 
Day by the President with a morning levee at the White 
House, in which he is assisted in receiving by the ladies of 
his household and of the Cabinet. The invitations and the 
programmes for this function are duly issued. This very 
imjiortant event begins, according to card, at 11 o'clock 
A. M. or thereabout. The state apartments are thrown 
open and decked with cut tiowers and potted plants for the 



6 



occasion, and the Marine Band, in uniform, is stationed in 
tlie vestibule and executes a programme of music that closes 
with the reception. The rooms are usually'' filled with in- 
vited guests when the President and the receiving party 
come down-stairs in pairs. The ladies who have been in- 
vited to stand behind the receiving line in the blue drawing 
room, where a barricade of sofas separated them from the 
Presidential party, are all in place before His Excellency 
enters and takes up his post at the door between the blue 
and red parlors. The ladies in line with the President and 
his wife are the ladies of the Cabinet, who stand in the. order 
of the official precedence of their husbands. The members 
of the Diplomatic Corps and the ladies of their families have- 
assembled in the red parlor adjoining the blue room, and,, 
as soon as the Cabinet ministers, who have escorted their 
wives down stairs, have greeted their chief and the ladies 
in line with the gay compliments of the season, the Secrie- 
tary of State stejDS into the next room and begins to pre- 
sent to the President the foreign ministers, their ladies and. 
secretaries and attaches of the different legations in the 
city, the foreigners taking precedence in their respective 
classes according to date of official notification ; precedence- 
is accorded, rank being equal, to priority of residence 
amongst us. The dean of the corps enters upon his func- 
tions in virtue of the length of his stay near our Govern- 
ment. 

The ladies in line who greet the callers after the Presi- 
dent has shaken hands with them, wear handsome toilets 
made with court trains, half sleeves, and Pompadour, or 
pointed bodices. The low, sleeveless body is not worn for 
this occasion, because, as many have averred in extenuation 
for not so attiring themselves, the gentlemen about them 
are not in evening dress, wearing as a rule Prince Albert 
coats and black trousers. The ladies wear their very pret- 



tiest gowns, however, and there is a growing sentiment in 
favor of full dress being worn at the President's levee, as 
too much honor cannot be paid our Chief Magistrate. The 
ladies behind the Presidential line, who entertain the callers 
who are iii\dted by the President to pass to the back of the 
reception room, wear pretty demi-toilets, and are without 
hats or outer wraps. The gentlemen of the Diplomatic 
Corps wear the embroidered court uniforms with their jew- 
elled orders, those who are so highly distinguished in affairs 
as to have had honors conferred upon them, or those who 
are officers in the armies of their respective sovereigns wear 
the glittering uniform the military rank permits them to 
assume. This special dress worn by the members of the 
Diplomatic Cordis upon state occasions gives them a cer- 
tain air of distinction that is grateful to men and to women 
the world over. It is not a surprising thing nor one to be 
at all wondered at that our own ministers and agents in the 
foreign service of the United States, simple American sov- 
ereigns though they be, have expressed an urgent desire 
that they might be instructed to assume a dress for state 
occasions abroad that had a bit more of individuality in its 
efl'ect than the inartistic swallow-tail coat of our unadorned 
evening costume for men. The handsome men we send to 
represent our Government at foreign courts have no oppor- 
tunity to make international reputations with their fine faces 
and figures by the aid of a smart uniform that might be 
advised by the State Department and designed by a special 
committee from the new National Art Association. It is not 
too early in her career for our beloved country to have the 
proper sartorial assistance in making an attractive appear- 
ance at foreign court functions. Returning to the Presi- 
dent's levee at the White House, the ladies accompanying 
the members of the Diplomatic Corps are in handsome car- 
riage toilets, rich furs, and dressy bonnets. A foreign min- 



ister recently accredited to our Government often takes this 
event for the presentation of his wife to the Presidential 
household. The foreigners are always invited to remain in 
the blue room. After presenting the Diplomatic CorjDS 
the Secretary of State and the members of his family present 
take leave of the President and retire to their residence, 
where the diplomats join them at a 12-o'clock breakfast. 
The Marshal of the District relieves the Secretary of State 
at this point and makes the remaining introductions to the 
President. 

The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States, and the judges of other 
courts in the District, are received, followed by the Senators 
and Kepresentatives in Congress, the District Commission- 
ers and others, and then come the officers, all in full uni- 
form, of the Army and Navy. At 12 o'clock the Vice-Presi- 
dent and his wife leave the reception-room and drive home 
in order to receive all the state officials from 12 to 2 o'clock. 
They serve a collation in the dining-room. The officers of 
the District National Gruard, in uniform, precede the officers 
of the Government departments, followed by the Associated 
Veterans of the Wars of 1812 and 1846, the Oldest Inhabi- 
tants, and the Grand Army men and the Old Guard, who 
step in before the sovereign people invade the mansion. It 
is quite 2 o'clock usually before the President's levee closes. 
Mr. Cleveland was able to shake on an average fifty hands 
a minute. 

The ladies of the Cabinet and of other officials' houses 
and those of private households hold New Year receptions 
throughout the afternoon. Abundant refreshments, hot 
and cold, solids and fluids, are served. One of the most 
hospitable homes of the Capital of late years was that 
thrown open to his friends on the first day of the year by 
the late Admiral Porter, of blessed and beloved memory. 



9 

The officials, army aud navy officers, Congressmeu, and resi- 
dents spend the afternoon in driving about the city paying 
their respects to those thej^ wish to honor. It is to many 
the one day of the year uj^on which they pay calls of cere- 
mony. The old Knickerbocker custom of New Year's Day 
calling may be allowed to fall into utter disuse in other 
cities, but the Capital City Avill evermore hold it in respect- 
ful observance. The ladies do not make the calls, but all 
are dispensing a generous hospitality at their own homes, 
or are engaged in assisting friends in receiving aud enter- 
taining guests. The Southern fashion for the New Year 
Day recejition is to have all rooms darkened and l)rilliantly 
lighted, and the ladies to appear in full dress. 

After the festivities of New Year's Day have passed the 
Presidential official family takes up a regular course of en- 
tertainments that continue to the close of the season, no 
preventing death or disaster intervening. The Cabinet 
ladies meet the wife of the President and the Vice-Presi- 
dent in conference at the White House and the programme 
for the state functions is prej^ared and given out so that other 
hosts and hostesses may avoid the dates of White House 
events if they choose. At the Capital the first and second 
months of the year, and often a portion of the third month, 
are times of great activity in official social circles, and it is 
small wonder that many ladies are obliged to retu-e from 
the field aud its duties on account of impaired health. The 
White House programme for the season includes three state 
dinners, three evening card receptions, and one evening 
public reception, and several Saturday afternoon recep- 
tions from 3 to 5 o'clock, besides the private dinners, 
luncheons, and receptions given to the President's personal 
fi'iends. In addition to these occasions it is customary for 
the Vice-President and his wife, the eight Cabinet minis- 
ters and their wives, each family, to give a Cabinet dinner 



10 

each season to the President and his lady, followed by a re- 
ception, to which a large company of prominent people are 
invited to meet the guests of honor. 

The dinner is here, as elsewhere, the most ceremonious of 
social events. The order of seating the guests at a state 
dinner has been reduced by Mr. O. L. Pruden, assistant 
private secretary to the President, to almost an exact science. 
It has taken many years of severe mental labor to accom- 
plish anything like a satisfactory rule that shall meet inex- 
orably all contingencies. The system has been submitted 
for criticism to some of the finest jurists and formalists of 
the country. The late Secretary Frelinghuysen, of Presi- 
dent Arthur's Cabinet, has left the impress of his indubitably 
correct and polished sense of the proprieties and of heaven's 
first law upon it. An invitation to dine at the Executive 
Mansion may not be declined unless the invited guest should 
die in the meantime or some member of his family depart 
this life. In that event the reason should be stated in the 
letter of declination, or in that of later regrets should 
mortality occur after acceptance. Any invitation of a social 
nature extended by the President must be regarded not 
alone as a courtesy, but as a command and not to be lightly 
set aside. 

The first state dinner of the year is the Cabinet dinner, 
at which the President and his wife, the Vice-President and 
his wife, and the heads of the eight great departments of 
the Government and their wives dine together. Some of 
these may be absent for cause, but all the members of the 
Cabinet receive invitations for a Cabinet dinner. Other 
guests besides the members of the Cabinet may be present 
at a Cabinet dinner, as the company often exceeds thirty or 
forty persons, but however they may be distinguished they 
have no. official precedence until the Cabinet members and 
their wives are placed. When a Cabinet dinner is eaten in 



11 

the Executive Mansion it is one of the three regular state 
dinners. At "Windsor, Queen Victoria will select for her 
escort to dinner the prince of some petty principality whose 
acres are ridiculously few, giving him precedence over a 
drawing-room full of magnates of intellect, of millions, and 
of military honors, evidencing by this royal act her staunch 
belief in the divinity that doth hedge a king, be he ever so 
poor in orders. And always where Macgregor sits is head 
of the table. Hereditary constitutional rights make smooth 
many embarrassing situations in matters of court j)rece- 
dence. According to Mr. Hoar's Presidential succession 
bill, which put the Sj^eaker of the House at the end of an 
improbable presumption of mortalities, the Cabinet now 
ranks, with President and Vice-President, as follows : The 
Secretaries of State, Treasur}^ and War, the Attorney- 
General, the Postmaster-General, and the Secretaries of the 
Navy, the Interior, and of Agriculture. The principal 
difficulty in the way of arranging the guests at a Cabinet 
dinner in a perfectly mechanical and wholly iuerrant man- 
ner at which not even the most exacting person might cavil, 
is because there are two sides to the rectangular figure of 
the table. ... It is 8 o'clock at the White House on 
the night of a Cabinet dinner, which is served. The Presi- 
dent takes out the wife of the Vice-President and places 
her on his right. The Secretary of State follows with the 
wife of the Secretary of the Treasury upon his arm, the 
Secretary of the Treasury with the wife of the Secretary 
of State, and so on in the order named of their official 
precedence until the close, when the Vice-President and the 
wife of the President, seeing that all the guests are in line, 
close the ranks. This supposes that the roll has been un- 
broken — that all the ministers and their wives are present, 
and the company move down the coi'ridor under the brilliant 
lights, between the hedges of fragrance and bloom, keeping 



12 



step to a martial march rendered by the Marine Band. 
The places rank from the middle of both sides of the table, 
from the right and left of the President, and from the right 
and left of the lady of the White House. It is clear that 
there must be a lady of high degree on each side of the 
President, and a high official on each side of his wife, who 
sits in front of him. In this case the President would have 
the wife of the Vice-President upon his right and the wife 
of the Secretary of State upon his left. The wife of the 
President, sitting oj)posite, would have the Vice President 
on her right and the Secretary of State upon her left 
hand. 

This crossing of the table in seating the Secretary of 
State brings the premier one place nearer the middle of the 
table than he could be by continuing the order of prece- 
dence to the right or left of the table. The instance here 
given supposes a rare case — that all of the Presidential offi- 
cial family are present, husbands and wives. President 
Arthur, who was a widower, installed his sister, Mrs. Mc- 
Elroy, who, as lady of the White House, took precedence of 
the ladies of the Cabinet upon all occasions. Mrs. McElroy 
had the most efficient advisers in her high position of state 
in Secretary Frelinghuysen and the members of his highly 
accomplished family, who are renowned for their polished 
manners and courtly hospitality. President Cleveland gave 
the position of first lady in the land to his sister, Miss Rose 
Elizabeth Cleveland, who did the honors of the White 
House most acceptably until the President's marriage gave 
to the Executive Mansion a most pojjular combination, a 
bride and a beaut}"^, for its mistress, all the charm of which 
was fully appreciated by the whole country, who gave her 
its unmeasured love and devotion. The U:nmarried daugh- 
ters of Secretary Bayard assumed the official honors due 
their deceased mother, not always with the approval of the 



1 



matrons, whom tliey ranked. 'Mrs. Wilmeiding, as daugh- 
ter of the Secretary of the Navy, took her mother's place at 
official fetes and spectacles after the terrible Tracy tragedy 
of 18i)0, without offeuse to any one, more particularly as she 
is a married lady. Should a minister 2)resent himself at a 
Cabinet dinner without a lady of his household accompany- 
ing him, he has assigned to him the wife of the official who 
ranks next to him ; it may be above or below him, but the 
other officials keep descending in rank until the Secretary 
of Agriculture is reached, and he sees the Secretary of the 
Interior escort his wife to table and he follows with the 
lady present who ranks first after the Cabinet. It is diffi- 
cult for ladies to appreciate the stern realism that the offi- 
cial dinners are given in honor of their husbands or of the 
high offices they occupy ; for personall}^ they have no offi- 
cial rank, and the most preposterous thing spoken or printed 
is when a woman has the title of her husband's political or 
military position made a prefix of her name. There are no 
feminine foi'ms of Senator, Eepresentative, or of General in 
our language. 

The second state dinner of the season is given by the 
President to the foreign ministers and the members of the 
Diplomatic Corps, who take rank according to the number 
of years of service given here, the minister of longest resi- 
dence being styled the dean of the corps. The dean and 
his wife are given precedence over all the others at table, 
the Secretary of State and his wife, who are always invited 
for this function, ranking the rest of the corps. There are 
always many more men than women in the Dij^lomatic cir- 
cle, as comparatively few of the ministers have wives and 
families, and comparatively few of those who are married 
have their families with them, and there are more than thirty 
friendly nations represented at the Capital. So it is not 
possible to have a lady for each minister at table, although 



14 



it is the largest of the state dinners and the most brilliant 
in appearance, because all the diplomats wear their court 
uniforms and ribands and orders, and the effect of the whole 
is gay in the extreme. 

The third and last state dinner in the regular season pro- 
gramme is given in honor of " the Court " ; that is, the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. The guests are the 
justices of the court and the ladies of their households, and 
members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, 
and probably other distinguished personages. The Chief 
Justice and his wife rank the Associate Justices, who sit 
at table in the order of their length of service upon the Su- 
preme bench. The foregoing dinner lists of guests have 
been evolved after deep discussions of the subject by learned 
men. It is not a small matter. We should have a code of 
official etiquette, fixed and unalterable, wherein the laws 
should be given for the conduct of all state functions. And 
those who sneer at the mere idea of an American court with 
set forms and ceremonies show little patriotism and less 
pride of country and love of the flag. For if we have not 
order we shall have all disorder, endless wrangiings, and 
heartburnings. In the conduct of the state dinners no 
warring combatants for disputed precedence are brought 
to issue. Washington is essentially a dinner-giving city, 
and when Congress or a specially-apj)ointed committee or 
some recognized authority will settle all the disputed points 
of precedence once and forever by formulating a specific 
regulation of rank among officials, the event will be a mat- 
ter of sincere congratulation among hosts and hostesses. 
A wit in the State Department tells a good story that illus- 
trates the utter irreconcilability of the incompatible, or of 
the unsettled order of precedence amongst dignitaries : "A 
friend of mine," said he, " wanted to give a swell dinner and 
he handed me the dinner list, asking me to arrange the 



15 

guests for bim at tal)le. I ^luiiced over the list, I read it 
carefully througli. He bad asked the Vice-President, the 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Dean of the Dip- 
lomatic Corps, the General of the Army, the Admiral of the 
Navy, the Speaker of the House, several Cabinet ministers, 
and JJ. S. Senators. My would-be host stood waiting- for 
instructions, the perspiration started upon my brow and I 
stammered forth in direst confusion, taking one more sur- 
vey of that roll of august names, ' I see nothing for you to 
do but to be taken suddenly ill, and to postpone the dinner !' " 
The three card receptions given by the President at the 
White House during the season are the most brilliant 
spectacles of the winter. They are held in the evening from 
9 to 11 o'clock, and cards of invitation are issued for them 
from the Executive Mansion. The first reception is given 
in honor of the members of the Diplomatic Corps, and all 
the officials, civil and military, the leading society folks 
and other celebrated personages are invited to meet them. 
The ofl&cers of the Ai"my and Navy wear their uniforms, and 
every honor is shown the foreigners. The band plays au's 
from the Old World operas and the flags of all nations are 
displayed. There are a thousand flashing lights over the 
scene presented. Strains of seductive music till the spaces, 
flowers bloom from mantels and doors and perfume all the 
air, sparkling jewels, silks, and laces add a glory to the 
dazzling beauty of women, and gallant men, the world's 
renowned, stand forth in the splendor of great attainments. 
The second reception of the series is given in honor of the 
members of Congress and the judiciary, and everybody is 
invited to meet them. The}' are the guests of honor in the 
blue drawing-room. On the third occasion the officers of 
the Army and Navy are especially honored in the event, and 
the band plays all the grand military airs that have done 
service upon a thousand gory fields of strife. The fourth 



16 

reception is for the general public and no cards are sent. 
The White House is as brightly Hghted and flower-bedecked 
as it is for the other receptions, and the band plays a pro- 
gramme of popular airs. The President and his wife and 
the ladies of the Cabinet stand in their accustomed places, 
as at all the levees, in their richest toilets. A gay company 
is also invited to stand behind the Presidential party in the 
blue drawing-room, and the uniformed officials make the 
presentations as upon the other evenings. The difference 
between this levee and the three others lies in the company 
that passes through the drawing-rooms during the two 
hours of its duration. The public comes on foot for the 
most jDart and they stand in a long queue between the outer 
door and the gate that sometimes extends across the 
grounds and along the sidewalk for several squares. They 
arrive in the presence of the President, who shakes hands 
with them in family parties, the father carrying and leading 
the younger children ; in pairs and companies of young 
people ; and men and women ; and oftentimes the two hours 
does not suffice to pass them all in. 

The lady of the White House holds afternoon recej^tions 
from 3 to 5 o'clock, upon stated Saturdays during the 
season, and all who choose to do so may attend. It is the 
day at home of the President's wife and she receives in the 
blue drawing-room, assisted by a few ladies who are invited. 
The personal and official friends of the ladies in line are 
asked to remain in the reception-room and they form a gay 
company at the back of the receiving line. Outside the 
house the families of high officials and fashionable people 
drive up in their carriages and are admitted without delay. 
The unknown individuals form a line and are admitted in 
the order of their coming. Once inside the stately portals 
the visitor is passed through the ante rooms by the men 
in waiting. At the door of the blue room he gives his 



17 

name to the Marshal of the District, who presents him to 
the distinguished hostess. After greeting the first lady of 
the land and making his bow to the ladies in line, he is at 
liberty to stroll about the drawing-rooms, visit the con- 
servatory, and listen to the music of the Marine Band. A 
punctilious person will leave his visiting card before de- 
parture. To avoid the crush at the outer doors of the 
"White House at a Saturday afternoon levee one should 
postpone his going until after 4 o'clock. At 5 o'clock 
the receiving party and the friends they have invited pass 
from the drawing-rooms, up the stairway to the private 
apartments of the house, where tea is served. 

It is marvelous how wonderfully well American women 
manage the official handshaking, and, after a time, when 
the muscles have grown stronger by the unwonted exercise, 
to greatly enjoy it. Many ladies aver they are refreshed by 
the contact, taking inspiration as well as giving it by touch. 
Mrs. Cleveland pi-obably made the greatest record in hand- 
shaking among the ladies of the White House. With 
youth, beauty, and great vitality there was fascination in 
her cordial hand clasp, which she gave witli the right hand 
uncovered. Madame Bonaparte's manner in greeting her 
friends much resembles that of Mrs. Cleveland. Mrs. 
Harrison is unable to shake hands by reason of a disabled 
finger that suffers acutest pain from the slightest pres- 
sure, but President Harrison gives ample cheer for two, as 
his hearty grasp leaves a pleasant memory. Mrs. Harrison 
smiles most graciously as she bows over her bouquet. The 
President holds receptions in the east room in the Execu- 
tive Mansion on several api^ointed days in the week, about 
midday. These are open to all and ai'e held whenever His 
Excellency is in the city. With this enumeration of events 
the White House pi'Ogramme for the official season 
closes. 



18 



Ladies of the White House. 

The first lady who bore the honors as a President's wife 
in our country never lived in the city named for her hus- 
band. Mrs. Washington's levees were held at No. 3, 
Franklin Square, New York city, and were conducted on the 
plan of the British and French drawing-rooms. The house 
of the first President was furnished with elegance, and its 
routine was arranged in as formal a manner as that of St. 
James or St. Cloud. Always an aristocrat, Mrs. Washing- 
ton assumed the duties of her high position with the advan- 
tages of wealth and lofty social standing. The fashionable 
and refined people of the land attended her receptions, the 
rules of the establishment were rigorous, and persons were 
excluded unless in proper attire. After the removal of the 
seat of Government to Philadelphia Mrs. Washington held 
her drawing-rooms on Friday evening of each week. These 
were attended with a degree of stiffness and formality that 
can scarcely be realized at this day. The lady of the man- 
sion always sat on these events, and the guests were ar- 
ranged in a ch'cle about her. The President passed among 
the guests with pleasant greetings, but there was no hand- 
shaking. Mrs. Washington returned all visits on the third 
day. 

Mrs. Adams, wife of the second President of the United 
States, was descended from a line of ' colonial clergymen, 
the aristocracy of New England. When the seat of Govern- 
ment was removed from Philadelphia to Washington, in 
June, 1800, Mrs. Adams accompanied her husband and was 
the first lady to occupy the unfinished White House. Mrs. 
Adams received and returned visits and kej^t up in the par- 
tially-furnished house the formal etiquette established by 
Mrs. Washington in New York and Philadelphia. President 
and Mrs. Adams held the first New Year's reception at the 



19 



White House iii 1801, using- the oval room upstairs as a 
Jrawiiig-rooin. Mrs. Adams' health failed in the sjDriug and 
she went to live in Massachusetts, having been mistress of 
the "White House but one-half year. 

The wife of President Thomas Jefferson had been dead 
nineteen years when, in 1801, he took possession of the 
"White House. His daughters, Mrs. Eppes and Mrs. Ran- 
dolph, sjient little time with their father, and the mansion 
was practically' without a mistress during the eight years 
of his administration. Mr. Jefferson abolished the cere- 
monious levees that had been introduced by Mrs. "Washing- 
ton and Mrs. John Adams, and the fashionable people did 
not like the innovation. Mr. Jefferson appointed Mr. Madi- 
son Secretar}' of State in 1801, and Mrs. Dorothy Madison 
made her house the most attractive resort of society at the 
Capital. In the absence of Mr. Jefferson's daughters, Mrs. 
Madison presided at the White House receptions. 

In 1801) Mrs. Madison went to the White House as its 
mistress, where she dispensed with liberal hand a most 
generous hospitality. Washington Irving describes a re- 
ception which he attended as '' a blaze of splendor." The 
formalities of preceding drawing-rooms were laid aside and 
the first lady had a mild and genial reception for each 
guest. At 37 she was youthful in appearance and pos- 
sessed great beauty of face and form, and she possessed 
another prime beautifier, the devoted love of her husband. 
She never forgot a name nor a face, and she rendered her 
husband's administration most brilliant and successful. It 
was during this period that the British soldiers of the war 
of 1812 burned the unfinished White House and Mrs. Madi- 
son tied to Virginia, where, after a few days' absence, she 
returned with the President to the Capital. They took up 
their residence in the octagon house owned by Col. Tayloe. 
When the President's House was repaired they returned to 



20 

it, and in 1816 gave the most splendid reception that had. 
ever been held up to that date in the Executive Mansion. 
Mrs. Madison wore gay colors and rouge upon her cheeks, 
the Justices of the Supreme Court vv^ore their flov^ing silken 
gowns, the heroes of the war of 1812 were in full dress, and 
the most notable display was made by the Diplomatic 
Corps, prominent among whom was Sir Charles Bagot, of 
Great Britain. 

Mrs. Monroe became lady of the White House in 1817. 
She had lived at foreign courts Avith her husband, but she 
mingled little in society. Her drawing-rooms were not ele- 
gant affairs and neither President Monroe nor his dainty 
wife enjoyed the Wednesday-evening receptions. Mrs. 
Monroe returned no visits, and, owing to her delicate health,, 
she preferred the retirement of her domestic circle. It w^as 
at this time that the furniture for the east room was pur- 
chased in Paris, and it was in March, 1820, that Maria 
Monroe, the youngest daughter of the President, was mar- 
ried in the east room to her cousin, Samuel L. Gouverneur,^ 
of New York. At dinner their was great gravity of mien 
and conversation. The oldest Senator, meaning seniority 
of service, conducted Mrs. Monroe to the table, the Presi- 
dent preceding with the wife of a Senator. Great crowds 
attended the receptions, no invitations being necessary. 
The President stood apart from his wife and her attendant 
ladies and shook hands with the people. 

The wives of the early Presidents came to that exalted 
position through a course of diplomatic training abroad 
and ministerial duties at home. Mrs. John Q. Adams took 
possession of the White House in 1825, at the age of fifty 
years and after living abroad at many courts and eight 
years in the premiership at Washington. Her health was- 
ever delicate and precarious, and her life in the President'^ 
House was marked by little gayety. 



21 



General Jackson's wife died in December, before he took 
the oath of otfiee, in 1829, and his uiece, Mrs. Emily Donel- 
son, whose husband. Major A. J. Donelson, was private sec- 
I'etary to the President, officiated as mistress of ceremonies 
at the Executive Mansion. She resembled Mary, Queen of 
Scots, in appearance and manner, and entered with zest into 
the festivities of the Capital and participated in all of its 
^ayeties. She dressed exquisitely and was a brilliant woman. 
Mrs. Donelson's four children were born in the White 
House and General Jackson made their christenings occa- 
sions of great ceremony. The President was very fond of 
them and took a grandfather's interest in all their plays and 
games. 

Mrs. Abram Van Buren, the daughter-in-law of President 
Van Buren, performed the duties of mistress of the White 
House during his administration. Mrs. Van Buren had died 
many years before. The President appointed his eldest son 
his private secretary, and gave his wife charge of the ceremon- 
ials. She was a representative of the old aristocracy of the 
South, and was gifted in beauty of form and deportment. 
She was a born social leader, and ^as educated to the en- 
joyment of wealth and culture. 

Mrs. Jane F. Harrison, the widow of his namesake son, 
accompanied Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison to Washington for 
his inauguration in March, 1841, and resided with him in 
the White House during the one month he lived there. 
Mrs. Harrison, the President's wife, had not left her home 
at North Bend, when word of her crushing bereavement 
reached her. A service was performed in the White House 
over the remains of Gen. Harrison in the presence of Pres- 
ident Tyler and other dignitaries. 

Mrs. Tyler accompanied her husl)and to the Executive 
Mansion in April, 1841. She had no taste for the world of 
fashion and display, but was eminently domestic in her pre- 



22 



dilections. Mrs. Tyler, whose health was failing, was as- 
sisted in her social duties by her two daughters, Mrs. Jones, 
and Mrs. Semple, and by Mrs. Robert Tyler, the wife of her 
oldest son, who was private secretary to the President for 
three years. The third daughter of Mrs. Tyler, Elizabeth,, 
was married to Mr. Waller in the east room of the White 
House in January, 1842. Owing to the ill-health of Mrs. 
Tyler the task devolved ujDon Mrs. Richard Tyler to repre- 
sent her mother-in-law on state occasions. The drawing- 
rooms at the White House were open every evening infor- 
mally until 10 o'clock, and during the winter months private 
balls were given by special invitations in the general re- 
ception-rooms, terminating at 11 o'clock. In addition to 
these private entertainments there was introduced at this 
period, for the first time, music on the grounds of the south 
front of the mansion on the Saturday evenings of each week 
during the spring, summer, and autumn, for the recreation 
of the public. To a similar end a public levee was held once 
a month, in addition to the general receptions on the first 
day of January and Fourth of July of each year. Of all 
card receptions no descriptions were permitted to be pub- 
lished in the newspapers. On the tenth of September, 1842,, 
Mrs. Tyler died in the White House, and her body lay in 
state in the east room before burial in Virginia. After Mrs. 
Tyler's death, her daughter, Mrs. Semple, assumed the posi- 
tion and duties of mistress of the White House, and so acted 
until May, 1844. 

President Tyler married Miss Julia Gardiner in New 
York city in June, 1844, and immediately after they went to 
Washington and held a grand reception in the White House. 
It was in the preceding winter that the father of this bride 
of the White House was killed while on board a boat on the- 
Potomac. From the time of her marriage until the close 



of her busbaud's administratiori, eight months, Mrs. Tyler 
did the honors of the Executive Mansion. 

On the inauguration of the Democratic President, James 
K. Polk, in March, 1845, Mrs. Polk immediately' assumed 
the agreeable duties of the lady of the White House. She 
had no children to divide her attention, and she gave all her 
time to the pleasures of her station. The extreme formal- 
ity required now was not practiced when Mrs. Polk held 
weekly receptions and received the company sitting, and 
cake and wine were served to the guests. Mrs. Polk was a 
lady of great dignity and wide culture, belonging to the old 
school of strict deportment. During her residence in the 
White House the practice of dancing there was discontinued. 
The reception companies outgrew the cake and wine by in- 
creased numbers. With the exception of one summer spent 
in Tennessee, Mrs. Polk spent all the term in the White 
House. 

When Mrs. Taylor entered the White House, in March, 
1849, she had seen more army service and passed through 
more varied frontier experiences with her husband than any 
other lady who has presided there. During the year and a 
half Gen. Taylor was President Mrs. Taylor did not take 
up the duties of mistress, but relinquished that honor to 
her youngest daughter, the wife of Col. Bliss, and popularly 
known as " Miss Betty Taylor." Mrs. Bliss was a brilliant 
hostess and the White House was very gay under her ad- 
ministration. General Taylor died in July, 1850, and Vice- 
President Fillmore succeeded to the Presidency. Mrs. 
Fillmore was in delicate health but bravely took her j)art in 
all formalities. She received with the President on Tues- 
day mornings, from 12 to 2 o'clock ; every Thursday evening 
they gave a large dinner party, and frequently one on Sat- 
urday. Miss Fillmore, the only daughter of the President, 
was the acting ladj- oi the White House during their resi- 



24 

dence, there owing to her mother's ill-health, and was, though 
but twenty, most accomplished and successful in the diffi- 
cult role. Mrs. Fillmore died in Willard's Hotel, March 30, 
1853, and Miss Fillmore died of cholera in July, 1854. 

Mrs. Pierce entered the White House in 1853 in deep 
mourning for the violent death of her last son. But she 
seldom omitted being present at the receptions of the Presi- 
dent. She always held receptions in the blue room and pre- 
sided at all state dinners. The hospitality of the Executive 
Mansion was characterized by dignity and quiet. 

The name of Harriet Lane, the ward and niece of Presi- 
dent Buchanan, is evermore associated with his brilliant 
administration as lady of the White House. Miss Lane 
presided over the usual festivities of the President's Man- 
sion with that matchless grace and elegant repose of man- 
ner for which she was justly celebrated in this and other lands, 
and she entertained the world-wide circle of Mr. Buchanan's 
friends in addition to all official functions. In 1860 Mr. 
Buchanan and Miss Lane entertained Albert Edward, 
Prince of Wales, and suite, at the Executive Mansion with 
a series of brilliant diversions. 

Mrs. Lincoln attained the fulfilment of a life-long ambition 
when she took possession of the President's House, with 
her husband, in March, 1861. The White House during 
her life in it was the reverse of gay. Officials were the chief 
callers at the Mansion, and the movement of armies and 
news from the front in the stirring times of civil war occu- 
pied the attention of the President's household. The state 
dinners were abandoned and weekly receptions were substi- 
tuted. Mrs. Lincoln was fond of society and would have made 
the Executive Mansion as brilliant, socially, as any lady 
who ever presided there, had the times permitted it. The 
first two years of Mr. Lincoln's administration were filled 
with gloom and the terrible mental strain and absorption 



1 



25 



of the war crisis. At the end of this time occurred the 
death of Wilhe, the second son, and for two years more the 
President's family was in mourning. Mrs. Lincoln was a 
Ion el}' woman in the "White House and sjient most of the 
summer of 18(54 at watering places. The New Year's re- 
ception of 1865 was the most brilliant entertainment given 
by the administration. Peace had been restored ; the sec- 
ond inauguration, anxiously anticipated, was safely accomp- 
lished, when the hand of the assassin plunged the rejoicing 
nation into mourning by taking the precious life of the 
President. • 

Mrs. Johnson was an invalid when her husband entered 
the White House, in the spring of 1865, and she never ap- 
peared in Washington society. The eldest daughter of the 
house, Mrs. Patterson, assumed the duties of the first lady 
of the land. The first reception held by President John- 
son was on the 1st of January, 1866, when he was assisted 
by his daughters, Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Stover. Thirty 
thousand dollars was appropriated this year for the re- 
furnishing of the Executive Mansion, and Mrs. Patterson 
gave her attention to the serious task of directing the ex- 
penditure, and the house was rendered, under her excellent 
management of the fund, more comfortable and beautiful 
than ever. Mrs. Patterson's reign was remarkable for the 
revival and the great success of the state dinners. The five 
grandchildren of President Johnson formed the largest and 
brightest band of children that was ever sheltered in the 
White House. 

When Mrs. Grant became mistress of the White House, 
in 1869, she had a family of young people about her and 
entertained there many of her friends and kinspeople. The 
family travelled much at home and abroad. The debut and 
the marriage of Miss Nellie were social events of moment, 
the latter occurring in May, 1874, the seventh wedding in the 



2G 



White House. The groom was Mr. Algernon Sartoris, of 
England. In the following season Col. Fred Grant intro- 
duced his bride, Miss Honore, at the White House. The 
eight years' social administration of Mrs. Grant was charac- 
terized by great magnificence. The official entertainments 
were conducted upon a more elaborate scale than those of 
any previous administration. The Mansion was richly fur- 
nished, and costly plate and decorations were supplied. 
Among the social events of an official character that oc- 
curred were receptions and state dinners in honor of the 
Duke%f Edinburgh, the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, the 
King Kalakaua, and the first Minister from China to this 
Government. The official receptions were frequent and the 
closing reception held by President Grant was especially 
brilliant. 

Mrs. Hayes took with her to the performance of her 
pleasant duties as hostess of the Executive Mansion a 
winsome, cheerful spirit, and some experience in official 
circles. She was delighted with the high place they had 
attained, and four weeks after taking up her residence in the 
White House she held her first Saturday afternoon recep- 
tion. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes celebrated the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of their marriage and the coming of age of their 
second son in the white House. Mr. Hayes' niece, Miss 
Piatt, was wedded in it during his stay. The White House 
was essentially a family mansion while Mrs. Hayes was in 
it, as she kej)t it filled with relatives and friends. Dinner 
parties, on which official occasions no wine was served, and 
card receptions at which splendid collations were served 
with lemonade, followed each other in rapid succession. It 
is said that on these latter events Secretarj^ of State Evarts 
kept a buffet of wine open in the State Department for the 
delectation of the foreign ministers and their friends. 

Mrs. Garfield occupied the position of first lady of the 



27 



land but for a few mouths, aud in that time suffered a se- 
vere illness and kept secluded from public gaze. President 
Garfield entered the White House in March, 1H81, and died 
in September of the same year. The lirst person to greet 
him when he arrived at the Executive Mansion on the day 
of his inauguration was his aged mother, who was known 
as Grandma Garfield. 

General Arthur on succeeding to the Presidency installed 
his sister, Mrs. McElroy, as mistress of the White House, 
and she was ably assisted in all matters pertaining to the 
entertainments at the Executive Mansion by Secretary of 
State ]Mr. Fi-elinghuysen and his highly accomplished wife 
and daughters, who are evermore remembered in the Capi- 
tal with loving regard and admiration. 

Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland took up the reins of the 
social administration at the President's House when Mr. 
Cleveland assumed the reins of Government, in 1885. After 
a year and a quarter the President was married to Miss 
Folsom of Buffalo, in June, 1886, in the blue drawing-room 
of the White House, in the presence of his Cabinet officers 
and their families and a few friends. Mrs. Cleveland then 
entered upon the serious duties of her high position, for 
serious they were for one so young, and all the country 
paid an enthusiastic devotion to the youth, beauty, tact, and 
amiability of the bride of the White House. The official 
entertainments were given during this administration with 
the most punctilious observance of all forms and ceremon- 
ies on the part of the Chief Executive and his wife and min- 
isters. 

AVhen Mrs. Harrison came to the White House, in 1889, 
as its presiding genius, she came to a city full of devoted 
friends all eager to welcome her back to Washington, from 
which she had retired four years before, when Mr. Harrison 
left the U. S. Senate. In conducting!- the "N^Tiite Hou.se 



28 

programme of ceremonies and festivities Mrs. Harrison is 
assisted by her daughter. Mrs. McKee, and her daugliter- 
in law, Mrs. Russell Harrison, and lier nieces, Mrs. Dim- 
mick and Mrs. Parker. Mrs. McKee's two children and 
Mrs. Russell Harrison's little daughter have brightened the 
house with their childish happiness, and Rev. John Scott, 
J). D., Mrs. Harrison's father, also resides at the Executive 
Mansion, making four generations of the one family that 
are sheltered by the Presidential roof. Never since the 
heroic days of Mrs. Patterson, in the peiiod that followed 
the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, has a lady of the White 
House given so much time and talent to the renovating, re- 
freshing, and beautifying of the President's Mansion as has 
Mrs. Harrison in applying an appropriation for some re. 
furnishing. Only an exquisite and practical housekeeper 
could have given the skilled oversight to every department 
of the repairs that Mrs. Harrison has given and reaped the 
reward of great excellence in the results of it all. In ad- 
dition to the other improvements electric lights were added 
to the illuminating facilities of the White House. Mrs. 
Harrison is not only most scrupulous in the performance 
of every social function pertaining to the duties of her 
official rank, but entertains most elaborately a host of 
friends outside of the official circle. 

High Officials. • 

The consequence and dignity of the Vice-President in the 
American Republic, both in the possibility of his becoming 
Chief Magistrate and in the importance of the casting vote 
in the Senate, are matters of growing interest. For sixteen 
years Washington did not have, for any appreciable length 
of time, a Vice-President, so that the social value of that 
j)osition was almost lost to sight. But when Mr. Morton 
and his highly accomplished wife took the long-vacant jjlace 



2:) 

in society, the proper precedence was gladly accorded them. 
The wife of the Vice-President ranks second only to the 
lady of the "White House upon state occasions. The ladies 
of the Supreme Court paid the first visits to Mrs. Morton ; 
the wives of the Senators, as to the wife of the presiding 
officer of the Senate, and the ladies of the Cabinet, honored 
the wife of the Vice-President in this res])ect as a ranking 
member of the Cabinet. And all these visits are returned 
in person. The Vice-President keeps open house on Cabi 
inet days, "Wednesdays, and gives the first Cabinet dinner 
to the President in the season. 

The Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States and his Associate Justices are entitled to great dig- 
nity and honor. They are appointed to their exalted estate 
for life — they decide cases in ultimate appeal — and are not 
alfected by political changes. The ladies of the Court call 
upon each other in the order of their husband's ranking, 
and they receive callers on Mondays during the session of 
the Court. The Chief-Justice and the Associate Justices 
are to be respectively addressed in conversation as " Mr. 
Chief-Justice " and " Mr. Justice.'' 

The Cabinet ministers are the constitutional advisers of 
the President ; they are the heads of the great Govern- 
mental departments, and, with their families, are members 
of the President's official household. They are entitled to 
every social consideration, but they do not, ordinarily, rank 
the Senators, who derive their sviperior honors from the 
conditions of State sovereignty, and they sit in secret ses- 
sion upon the confirmation of the Cabinet officers' apjDoint- 
ment. Therefore the ladies of the Cabinet employ the 
delightful days of early winter in completing the ever- 
extending list of Senatorial calls. The ladies of the Cabinet 
also pay first visits to the ladies of the Suj^reme Court. 
This ground was long and hotly contested and was won by 



30 

the ladies of the Court, who declined all invitations to dine 
at the Cabinet houses until the point was surrendered. 
Each Cabinet officer gives a state dinner in honor of the 
President each season, and it was found that the persistent 
absence of Supreme Court Justices on these occasions 
extremely embarrassing. 

The Cabinet ladies, including the wife of the Vice-Presi- 
dent and the Avifef of the Speaker of the House, hold recep- 
tions on Wednesday afternoons, from 3 to 6 o'clock, during 
the season, and all who choose may pay their respects to 
those ladies in their own homes. 

With the passage of the Hoar Presidential succession 
bill, that turned the sequence of the office into the Cabinet, 
the possibility of the Speaker of the House coming into 
the Presidency through that channel was removed and his 
social ranking changed. But the Speaker is always as the 
dii'ect representative of the great and free people of the 
United States, and by the vast patronage of his position a 
tremendous power in legislative affairs. All the high 
officials named have sufficient responsibilities' and honors 
without ever drawing upon the anticipatory ones of the 
Chief Executive. 

The Speaker, who formerly stood next to the Vice-Presi- 
dent, is now preceded by all the members of the Cabinet. 
In President Arthur's time Mrs. Carlisle, wife of Speaker 
Carlisle, was the ranking first lady in official life, while later 
the wife of ex-SjDeaker Reed called upon all the ladies of 
the present Cabinet. The wife of the jDresent SjDeaker of 
the House, Mrs. Crisp, a charming woman, accomplished in 
all social ways, is regretably prevented by lack of health 
from taking up the social duties of the position. 

United States Senators and their families enjoy an ex- 
ceptional fine official position at the Capital. The tenure of 
the Senatorial office is for six years, and the of tener a man 



31 

is returned the stronger he becomes in the estimation of 
the people of his own State, adding lustre and importance 
to her name, and also to the whole country, until a State 
cannot choose but re-elect a great statesman who has 
proved himself leal to the country's interests, if she would 
do otherwise, for the scorn of the nation's opinion. 

The wives of the Senators call ui)on the wife of the Vice- 
President, her husband being the President of the Senate, 
and upon each other in the order of the length of time their 
husbands have served in the Senate, the first visit in all 
these instances signifying the jDrecedence of the person called 
vipon. Mrs. Morrill receives the first visits of the entire 
Senate by virtue of Senator Morrill's seniority in office, and 
they all love to pay the dear lady that honor. The depart- 
ure of Mrs. Ingalls and Mrs. Edmunds from the charmed 
cil'cle leaves Mrs. Cockrell and Mrs. Dawes equally seconds 
in rank. It is the generally accepted rule of the ladies of 
the Senate to make first calls upon the ladies of the Su- 
preme Court. Those in opposition hold that new Senators 
should call upon the Justices they find installed, but that 
the recently confirmed Justices should pay their respects 
in the form of visiting cards to the confirming power. The 
President's appointment does not confirm. It was the wife 
of a Kansas Senator w'ho first broke the established custom 
some years ago, and paid the first call upon the ladies of 
the Court, and as the wife of a Senator who was also the 
daughter of a Senator says, " they have never recovered from 
the incident." Tlie members of the Diplomatic Corps make 
first visits upon the Senators. This is the practice. There 
are ladies in the Diplomatic circle who stand out against 
this custom, but they simply do an impolitic thing, and men 
have sufiered and do sufier in pubUc life from their wives, 
offences in social matters. A lady who has been in a high 
ofiicial position here for many years and who has looked 



32 

with clear eyes upon all that has passed before her, remarks 
in this connection, " If I were the wife of a foreign minister, 
wishing for the success of my husband's career, I should on 
coming here make every Senatorial call." It is not a very 
great task, the making of the visits, and no woman can 
measure the assistance she is giving the cause of her coun- 
try's affairs in pursuing so diplomatic a policy. The courte- 
ous course stands forth like the sun in brilliant contrast to 
the sulky conduct of the non-conforming diplomat. The 
U. S. Senate has the final settlement of all treaties and 
negotiations with foreign countries, and the power to make 
or mar the fame and fortune of a foreign minister. It is 
upon such slight threads of amenity ofttimes that the ful- 
filment of momentous human events depend. Man is a 
sentimental being at his best, the strain of an old song will 
send the tears coursing down his face, and a name spoken 
will drive him into the wildest ecstasy of unaccountable en- 
thusiasm. It is the man of broadest, widest world experi- 
ence, deepest knowledge, and finest cultivation who is the 
most impressionable. Ignorance is ever immovable in its 
impregnable stronghold of stuj)id resistance. 

After the insistence of the immense importance of the 
Senate as an august correlative branch of the Government, 
the additional fact remains that the ministers received by 
our Government are of the second class according to the 
rules of the Vienna Congress of 1815, and adopted by the 
Department of State, and do not on that account take any 
superiority of rank. Upon these two points the Senators 
base their claims of precedence and they are seldom brought 
in question. The ladies of the Senatorial circle keep open 
house on Thursday afternoons throughout the season. It 
is customary for them to make as many of their duty calls 
in December as they can accomplish. 

Members of the House of Representatives and their wives 



33 

make the tirst visits vipou all the functionaries that have 
been named. The ladies are expected to keep Tuesdays at 
home, but as they have an imposinj^ array of duty calls to 
make, they may be pardoned if they take the day for needed 
recruiting of wearied energies instead of standing up to re- 
ceive a few callers. All private persons owe them the first 
visit. 

The Diplomatic Corps resident in Washington give to its 
society a charming quality of cosmopolitanism found only 
in the capitals of important countries. The presence of 
representative men and women of other nations, with all the 
historic interest that attaches to them, people and countries, 
gives that spice of variety to drawing-room life that enter- 
tains the frivolous and attracts the thoughtful. Linguists 
practice their e.xercises upon the foreigners, students of 
political economy get live opinions upon current discussions 
first hand from them, and society belles enjoy the polished 
deference that marks the dii^lomat's manner to ladies. 
Many hostesses measure the success of their entertain- 
ments liy the number of foreign countries represented 
among tlie guests in their drawing-rooms, while others in the 
old resident family cuxdes, chiefly upon the principle enun- 
ciated in the ancient ballad, " The rose that all are praising 
is not the flower for me," make no effort to put themselves 
up(m the visiting lists of the legation people. There is no 
stumbling-block so uncompromising to a new arrival at the 
Capital as is his unknowable relation to the diplomatic 
body. The foreign ministers represent an extraordinary 
mission from their governments to ours, and are treated with 
marked courtesy and deference by ftll i)ersons in public and 
private life. 

The newly accredited minister to this Capital calls upon 
the Secretary of State at the Department and is presented 
by that official to the President at the Executive Mansion. 



34 

He wears his full uniform or whatever court or military 
dress he may be entitled to wear, presents his letters to the 
President, and makes a speech. On the same day he calls 
upon the other members of the Diplomatic Corps. He 
also leaves cards for the Justices of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, the Vice-President, the Cabinet minis- 
ters, and the members of the Foreign Committees in both 
the Senate and the House of Representatives. The fam- 
ilies of the ministers are, to all intents, as those of private 
individuals, save that they are included with the ministers 
in all invitations for social events in official society. They 
keep a day at home on which to receive their friends or not, 
as they choose. When they do so strangers are not ex- 
pected to call, and their j)resence on such an occasion would 
be deemed an unwarrantable intrusion. At the doors of 
some legations the sight-seeing visitors are refused admit- 
tance by the servants. It is related of the British legation 
that by the inadvertent announcement in the newspapers 
of the day on which the Minister and Lady Pauncefote 
would receive their friends at 5-o'clock tea, one-half of the 
city called ; the mob thronged the rooms and hallways and 
turned the intended pleasure into an evening of despair. 
The British legation is a handsome mansion of exception- 
ally spacious proportions, and the occupants, being English- 
speaking, are more interesting to our people than are the 
folks of the other legations. 

The Mexican legation is one of the linest residences in 
the Capital City, and upon certain j)re-announced afternoons 
during the winter its handsome drawing-rooms, dining-room, 
and ball-room, with all their art treasures and rich furnish- 
ings, are lighted and thrown open. The hospitality on 
these occasions is royal in its profusion and heartiness. 
Every person who has ever met Minister or Madame Ro- 
mero feels free to go and take his friends, and persons in 



85 

official lift' improve the oppoituuity to puy their resiDccts, 
and the spacious house is thronged. Madame Romero 
receives the company in grande toilette ; in the dining-room 
the table is spread witli dainties, Mexican punch is served, 
and in the mirror-lined ball-room a band plays dreamy 
waltzes and the dancers jjursue the languishing music with 
Hying feet. 

Some of the great powers of Europe are represented here 
by widowers and bachelors, and of course ladies do not call 
at these legations. It often occurs that a minister repre- 
sentative of a country is invited to meet a dignitary of 
that country, and the host should bear in mind that, what- 
ever his rank, the minister takes precedence of his visiting 
countryman. 

The order of precedence that obtains in the Dijilomatic 
Corps was decreed at the Vienna conference some years ago. 
The ranking minister, doyen or dean, holds his position by 
right of seniority or 2)riority of time he has been at the post. 
Baron de Fava, of Italy, is the present dean, with Minister 
Romero, of Mexico, an able second in line of succession to 
the honor. Thirty-two friendly nations have legations in 
this city. The reason that a great majority of the secretar- 
ies and attaches, and some of the ministers as well, of lega- 
gations are bachelors, is that the United States has the 
name abroad of being an expensive place to live in, and 
another reason is that those diplomats having young people 
in their families prefer to educate them in Europe. 

Washington is a favorite post with young diplomats. 
The duties are not arduous, consisting mainly in keejiing 
up friendly relations between the two countries, and there 
are few treaties to negotiate. A minister needs to hold 
himself well aloof from the complications of our political 
system, an inadvertent meddling in which brought Sir Lionel 
Sackville Sackville-West to ereat humiliation and a recall to 



Great Britaiu in Mr. Cleveland's time. Washington, with: 
its charming society, its beautiful natural features, its 
theatres, its near neighborhood to New York city and to 
the fashionable summer resorts, is one of the most satis- 
factory appointments in the gift of the foreign offices of 
Europe. Copenhagen, Athens, and Buenos Ayres are con- 
sidered dull posts, and a young and ambitious diplomat 
would prefer going to a more desirable city in a lower 
grade capacity. 

The exceptional positions occupied by the General of the 
Army and the Admiral of the Navy rank them after the 
four classes of officials named. They represent the two 
arms of the Government ujDon which it depends for pro- 
tection in case of war, but they have no essential part in 
the machinery of the State. Their stations are specially 
created for special services, and they rise to the highest 
places by a regular system of promotions. As guests at a 
state dinner they rank high at the Presidential board, for 
the same reason that the Speaker of the House on a like 
occasion is seated near the host ; because of the great and 
practical importance of the offices they hold and the mag- 
nitude of their personalities in the respect of the peojjle. 
The corresponding rank among officers of the Army and 
Navy is as follows ; the Lieutenant-General and the Vice- 
Admiral, the Major-General and the Kear- Admiral, the 
Brigadier-General and the Commodore, the Colonel of the 
Army and the Captain of the Navy, and so on. And a 
social precedence based upon this order is observed on 
ceremonious occasions. The ladies of the Army and Navy 
circle keep Friday for their day at home. 

Resident Society. 

The resident society contingent in Washington form a 
a powerful and conservative body, strongly inclined to ex- 



37 

cluisiveness. They are exempt from the obligation of making 
official visits. They have no official position, but when they 
enter official society they conform to official rules of prece- 
dence and etiquette. They must make all first visits upon 
new arrivals whose acquaintance thej desire, as they would 
in any other city, but few society people call upon the 
highest officials whom they have not previously known, 
until introduced by mutual fi'iends. The demarcation line 
between residents and officials is not arbitrarily drawn, since 
there are many Congressional and Army and Navy officers' 
families who by long continuance in office and by reason 
of having homes here are influential pillars in the resident 
circle. There are also official families of long residence and 
great dignitj' at the Capital who do not assimilate with the 
non-political set, and who have a feeling that the courtesies 
and compliments of the Executive Mansion should not be 
too liberally showered upon "local society people."' The 
wife of one of the best known jjoliticians in this country, 
who has occupied high official station, said at the White 
House once in answer to the question, "Who is she? " of 
a lady, " Oh, she is nobody ; she has no business here ; she 
is the wife of a dentist ! " 

The fact that many of the residents in this city are re- 
tired officials serves to keep the balance of good feeling 
evenly poised between these seemingly irreconcilable ele- 
ments. Despite a modicum of contempt held on both sides, 
each for the other, the two streams do roll harmoniously 
together, commingling indistinguishably. The congenial 
spirits soon recognize each other in whatever diverse circles 
they may be naturally placed, and assimilate for mutual 
entertainment. Wealth is necessary to smart society, but 
it must be expended lavishly and skilfully to gratify the 
tastes of society, and profuse disjiensers of their wealth 
may be taken into the ranks. All sins can be forgiven the 



38 



man who aspires to social honors but the ineradicable one 
of innate vulgarity. The man of princely fortune must 
bring- with it some of the graces and arts of nobility if he 
would satisfy the critical requirements of the circle he seeks 
to enter. In London, it is said the new people are taking 
the lead of the old families in the grandeur of their enter- 
tainments. The same thing may be said of society at the 
Capital. Riches are requisite to admission to the highest 
rank, but the quality of being agreeable is quite as essential. 

"Princes sometimes travel in disguise, pigs never do." 

But it is a small world after all in which we live, and for 
numerous reasons indicated at different points a decorous 
symphony of sweetest unity is constantly maintained in the 
somewhat conglomerate circle of fashion that merrily re- 
volves at the National Capital. Those officials who come 
for the briefest stay often enjoy the most brilliant society. 
They bring letters of introduction, and their own good 
breeding and agreeable manners insure them the upper- 
most rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the inner coun- 
cils. Washington society is the paradise of men and women 
past their first flush of youth. Precedence is here given to 
the elders at all times and places. In this particular our 
community resembles more those of the continent of Europe 
than those of the United States. Young people never did 
and will never dominate society at the Capital. With the 
magnificent proportions of society and the constant change- 
fulness of its personnel that is its peculiar feature, the de- 
parting of familiar faces, the arriving of new ones, the re- 
markable thing is that there is no city in the world where 
a man or a woman becomes known and achieves a reputa- 
tion upon his merits in so short a space of time as here. 
The reason is found in the fact that great attention is paid 
to social culture and the discussion of social matters. So- 



:^)0 



ciety is uot a secouJary interest. In all the trying relations 
of life, official or of private station, it is a comfort to re- 
naember that the unbewitched dictations of common sense 
are safe rules of action, and that whatever is done in kindli- 
ness and moderation of it is written in the eternal verities 
that higher nor lower criticism cannot assail. 

Should that famous Nova Zemblan of S2:)eculative litera- 
ture take his stand upon our streets in a fashionable portion 
of the city on a pleasant afternoon in the gay season, he 
would sjieedily conclude that the j^rincipal business of the 
people of the United States as seen at their Capital was to 
driAe about to each other's houses, leaving innumerable bits 
of pasteboard. He would not penetrate beneath the outer 
appealing of the frivolous show, and see the grave political 
import and importance of it ; nor could he laiow how deeply 
the social currents run or how hard they pull in this mani- 
fest foolishness of calling. " Why, the members of the 
House would not vote for my husband for Speaker if I did 
not call upon their wives ! " said the wife of the most pop- 
ular presiding officer the lower branch of Congress ever had. 
"Whatever would become of fair Washington and fair Wash- 
ingtonians should it suddenly be decreed that the sole in- 
dustry and beloved system of paying visits had been ever- 
lastingly abrogated, I should not like to conjecture. The 
social rounder and the political visitor never go out on strike. 
And the householders are ever ready to receive, each one, 
when her da}'* at home in, the week arrives. All sorts and 
conditions of men and women go a-calling. In gay turn- 
outs, the very best their purses can command. There is the 
luxurious Victoria with its matched Arab horses, liveried 
driver and footman, and the family arms upon its glittering- 
panels at the head of the imposing line, and the livery ca\> 
hired by a syndicate from a park stand. The only vehicle 



40 

that lias not been pressed into the service to any great ex- 
tent is the democratic bicycle. 

On Monday the ladies of the SajDreme Court and all the 
residents of Capitol Hill keep open house for callers ; Tues- 
day has been assigned to the families of Representatives in 
Congress ; Wednesday the wife of the Vice-President, the 
vpife of the Speaker of the House, and the ladies of the 
Cabinet households are at home ; Thursday the ladies of 
the Senatorial circle receive ; Friday belongs to the Army 
and Navy set, and Saturday'' is given up to the lady of the 
"White House. Besides these there are certain neighbor 
hood days observed by residents, and some ladies who would 
come under the foregoing regulations take the day of the 
street upon which they live. For instance, Tuesday is K 
street day ; the residents of I street receive on Thursday ; F 
and G streets, above the War, State, and Navy Departments, 
known as the "Ai'my and Navy quarter," have Friday, as 
has also Massachusetts avenue, and Connecticut avenue 
receives on Saturday. However, all ladies have the name 
of their day at home engraved upon their visiting cards. 

The Cabinet ladies lead in the number of calls received 
upon any one day ; in short, they have the populace at their 
doors, while the ladies of the Senate come in a good second 
for the honors. In times past, when the hours of a public 
reception extended from 1 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon, 
and the official housholds served elaborate collations, includ- 
ing ices and salads (at one well-remembered Cabinet house 
there was always a bottle of prime sherry on the sideboard), 
to the multitudes during those hours, it is not a surprising 
fact that many of them closed their doors at the beginning 
of Lent, the close of the season, not to open them again 
until the following December. In those days, too, in addi- 
tion to the Wednesday afternoon receptions, a Cabinet min- 
ister was thought derelict in his duty to the country if he 



41 



<iid not give three large card receptions eacli season to which 
his entire calling list was invited. Mr. Cleveland's asso- 
ciates in the administration of the Government were most 
punctilious in the matter of social obligations, and there 
were a number of notably brilliant card receptions given by 
those members of his Cabinet whose residences were com- 
modious enough to accommodate large companies. In Gen- 
eral Arthur's time, that golden reign of knightly courtesies, 
visits were made and repaid with more exactness than now ; 
the families of the highest officials spent much time in re- 
turning visits. The logical tendency of the present time is 
towards lightening the social burdens of official families. 
The recejjtion hour has been set back to 3 or 4 o'clock 
in the season, and few ladies keep open house every week 
in that time, although as a matter of convenience many 
others keep theu- day whenever they are in town. During 
the season the simple tea table, after the London fashion, 
has succeeded the elaborately-spread table in official houses, 
and out of the season the receptions are "informal," which 
means that no refreshments are offered. 

As to returning visits, there must, perforce, be great 
variety in the practice of this most important function, 
where the constantly-arriving new officials are so numerous 
and they are predisposed to immediately take upon them- 
selves, without pi'evious instructions, the duties of our 
somewhat complicated social forms. There is wisdom in a 
policy of delay being adopted b}' strangers, both official 
and private, who purpose residing at the Capital. It is 
well for them to take the role of a passive looker-on at the 
Capital for a time before joining the active throng of merry- 
makers. The officials are obliged, of course, to pay their 
duty calls, but the private mdividual receives first visits 
from his fellow-residents, and he gains respect always 
among the finest folk by holding himself in a proper reserve. 



42 

The older Senatorial families at the Capital, among whom 

are the best people of the nation, are the most scrupulously 

/ ceremonious in all social courtesies, and especially in that of 

/ returning visits. They probably return more calls person- 

/ ally than do any other grouj) of the official ladies, a true 

statement that scarce requires the conditional subjunctive, 

and that establishes beyond a peradventure the exalted 

standard of their ladyhood. It is this true politeness in 

their conduct that goes far towards making Washington 

the most charming city in the world. It is some of the new 

arrivals who cut grotesque figures by ignoring utterly the 

ordinary civilities of life. They appoint for themselves 

days in which to receive calls and seem to think they have 

incurred no obligation in so doing. 

Among high officials there never was a family that took a 
more active part in the social life here than that of the late 
Chief-Justice Waite of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. Their hospitalities were most generous in every 
detail, and they omitted the performance of no social duty. 
Miss Waite was one day explaining to the daughter of a 
newly-elected Senator the successful method by the use of 
which she was enabled to return all visits paid them, 
averaging as many as fifty in each afternoon. In perform- 
ing this feat Miss Waite used the legs of an agile footman 
to good advantage, always having him ascend the stoop 
steps to see if the lady of the house were at home. If she 
were not receiving, the cards were left and the carriage pro- 
ceeded ; if she were. Miss Waite entered and paid the visit. 
All cards were thus returned in person. It was explained, 
too, that the ladies were found to be in so generally because 
she went upon their regularly appointed days for receiving. 

" Yes, but," said the novice in social ways at Washington, 
after she had listened to it all, "you could get over the 



43 

ground so much faster if tbey were uot at borne. I would 
go upon off days."' 

"• You might do that,"' repHed Miss Waite, " but I could 
not, for they are all well aware that I know better." 

A grievous mistake that is made by some persons in the 
pursuance of affecting foreign fashions is the omission of 
the address from visiting cards. This works much con- 
fusion to ladies in returning visits. There is no excuse for 
leaving the number of the house and the name of the street 
from cards, because there is no analogy between the case 
of Americans who are constantly changing theii* places of 
residence and that of the Europeans they seek to imitate, 
where families reside under one ancestral roof for genera- 
tions. No one is so well known here as not to need her 
address upon her card, with the one honorable exception of 
the lady of the White House. 

Ii is not de rigeur to call upon the hostess after a tea. 
Attendance at a tea is equivalent to a visit, and the guest 
leaving her card discharges the obligation. Should the in- 
vited one fail to be present at the tea, she owes a visit to 
the sender of the invitation. 

There is a remakably strong feehng anent the sending of 
cards in response to calls, a practice much in vogue in the 
present Cabinet circle. Sometimes the cards are sent by 
mail, and sometimes by the family carriage with the driver 
and footman upon the box. The wife of one Cabinet min- 
ister sent her cards to the homes of Senators last year by 
a man who rode upon a bicycle ! " If she'd send her cards 
to me I'd send them back mighty quick ! " was the exclama- 
tion of a lady recently, the indignation flashing out at the 
very thought of being submitted to such an indignity. For 
myself I do not see any objection to the custom. It seems 
the only solution of a grave problem, and is better far than 
no recognition whatever of one"s friendly call. But the 



44 

wives of men in political life see the matter from an entirely 
different view-point than my own. and in their logic they 
are absolutely correct. 

A Cabinet minister sent his cards by footman in return 
for calls to a lady whose Western home is in the same city 
as his own. "Which did you intend to rej)resent your- 
self," queried she when next they met, " the horses, the car- 
riage, the livery, or the outriders *? " 

Said another brilliant woman, who has been a shining 
light in the Senatorial circle since the administration of 
General Grant : " So long as I value my husband's success 
in politics, his popularity and my own popularity, and cer- 
tainly I greatly desire to be popular in the community, so 
long would I never, never, send my cards in return for 
visits. The sensitive American has a' feeling of being set 
aside when his visit is returned by a pair of horses and a 
carriage, and his resentment rises. Of course we do not re- 
ceive as many calls as the Cabinet ladies, but if my husband 
were a Cabinet minister, I should return personally the 
call of every official who called upon me during the year." 

The wives of public men represent them in the social 
world on many occasions and they should accept the pains 
and j)enalties as well as the honors and emoluments of pub- 
lic office. The wife of a j)olitician cannot draw her few 
friends about her and call herself exclusive, because it is to 
the people they owe their official elevation, and it is some- 
times to the position they hold that they owe the multitude 
of visits they receive. A lady prominent in official life re- 
ceived last season twelve hundi"ed calls ; owing to a 
severe illness in the spring she was unable to return them all 
in person, but she made four hundred visits, but she sent 
no cards and will carry the others over to the next year. 
Mrs. Morrill, the wife of the genial octogenarian Senator 
from Vermont, has been unable all of the last season to pay 



45 

any visits owing to a severe illness. Miss Swan, the sister 
of Mrs. Morrill, who is thoroughly identified with the elder 
lady, courteously made visits in return foi" all cards of 
inquiry made at Senator Morrill's residence. Every peison 
who received a visit from Miss Swan was highly gratified 
and much flattered by the attention, as well they might, for 
Miss Swan pays real visits and is charmingly entertaining. 
But no one in Washington would have exacted the retui'a 
of his visit or felt in the least hurt had it not been made, 
so assured are the friends of Senator and Mrs. Morrill of 
the kindliness and good feeling cherished for them. 

In making calls ladies in official and in private life leave 
their own and their husband's cards and those of then* sons 
and daughters who are out. There should be a broad 
charity for those in private life who send their cards by 
post or by a servant. Only illness or absence from the city 
excuses a lady from returning a visit. 

In Europe there is a well-defined regulation, generally 
accepted, in a matter that greatly confuses polite people 
here, and that is the turning down of the corners of cards 
in order to signify a special meaning. The authoritative 
code that obtains in Eui'opean cities is that the turning of 
the upper right-hand corner means a call upon business or 
" aftaires,'' as the French say ; the turning of the lower 
right-hand corner indicates the usual " visite," ceremonial 
and complimentary : the upper left-hand corner signifies 
the visit of condolence, and the lower left-hand corner curved 
implies a leave-taking or " conge '' of the visitor. 

Acknowledge all courtesies and favors by note immedi- 
ately, as there is little opportunity in crowded rooms for any 
but the exchange of the most commonplace expressions. 

A lady makes a great mistake in not putting a day at 
home upon her cards in making visits. People never know 
when to find such a one in, and consequently she is liable 
to be left out, and cannot blame anyone but herself for it. 



46 

The social world lias long lists of calls well accredited, 
regularly announced to make. It is better in every way for 
a new arrival in the city to take a day, and if kept ever so 
informally, to respect it. Whatever gives facility in the per- 
formance of social obligations is an excellent thing. 

A parting paragraph upon dinner-giving and dining out 
will close this brochure : The fashion is increasing of giv- 
ing larg-e dinner parties outside of the private house. This 
is made all the more possible and agreeable because so 
many hotels have beautifully-appointed private dining- 
rooms. By making use of them all trouble of any sort is 
avoided, and the host and hostess enjoy the feast the same 
as their invited guests. But wherever a dinner is given, the 
hostess should not fail to have in the gentlemen's dressing- 
room an envelope addressed to each one, containing a card 
with the name of the lady upon it he is to escort to dinner. 
The neglect of this provision works sore confusion always 
in the dinner comj)any. A clever belle of this city avers she 
does not care what she has to eat at dinner if there is a man 
on each side of her who can talk. 

To eat with gloves on is unpardonable snobbery. Noth- 
ing is prettier than the freshness of a woman's hand, and 
the best fitting glove is after all but an awkward thing. In 
Washington, where there is an adequacy of charming diners 
out, a hostess need never harass her brain over the tantaliz- 
ing query, " Whom shall I ask to dinner ? " A blunder made 
by inexperienced dinner-givers may be avoided, that of in- 
viting to their own house precisely the same company whom 
they have met only a week or two previously at the house 
of a mutual friend. If the first party was a great success, 
the second is the more likely to be a failure, although it was 
that very success which induced the repetition. This is no 
evidence of disregard or unfriendliness ; it is only the nat- 
ural desire for new elements to season the talk, and to bring- 
in fresh ideas. The cause is founded deep in human nature. 



I 



47 

and what was decided amony the prehistoric Protozoa can- 
not be annulled by act of Parliament. 

The invitations are issued in the name of both the host 
and the liostess a fortnight in advance of the date of the 
event : the acceptance or declination should be sent imme- 
diately. The initials R. S. V. P. placed upon invitations is 
a serious reflection upon the courtesy of well-bred people, 
nevertheless they are used to a great degree. A prompt 
reply to invitations for dinners, luncheons, and receptions 
is the invariable practice of polite people. The guests 
should arrive ten minutes before the hour named in the 
invitation, not earlier nor later, and should be attired in 
full evening dress. The waiter announces dinner by bow- 
ing to the host, who gives his arm to the guest of honor, 
proceeding first to the dining-room. A gentleman offers 
his left arm to the lady he escorts to dinner and places her 
at his right hand. The hostess goes in last with the gen- 
tleman who is the guest of honor, and the other guests re- 
main standing in their places until she is seated when the 
gentlemen seat the ladies before seating themselves. Then 
the dinner is served. Custom designates what wines shall 
be served with each course. No gentleman or lady, how- 
ever severe his ideas of prohibition, will manifest his con- 
victions while enjoying private hospitality. That act allows 
no liberty of criticism of the conduct of the host. Each 
guest should make himself most agreeable and entertaining 
at table, but a person of good breeding '' will no more talk 
all than eat all the feast." The fashion of short dinners, 
one hour in length, was set by the Prince of Wales, and 
was hailed as a delightful innovation upon the three and 
five hours' heavy dinners of Londoners and the Knicker- 
bockers of New York city. 

At the conclusion of the dinner the hostess bows to the 
lady on the right of the host, rises, and all the party fol- 
lows her to the drawincr room. Coffee is served in the 



48 

drawing-room, after wliicli the men return to tlie dining- 
room or to a smoking-room to smoke, while the ladies em- 
ploy the time for a social chat. If parties desire to leave 
at once after coffee, they announce their desire to the 
hostess, unnoticed, before going in to dinner, and leave 
quietly without formal adieus to avoid disturbing the pleas- 
ure of those remaining. This is one of the pleasant cus- 
toms of Parisian etiquette. If no reception follows the 
dinner the guests should take their leave within two 
hours. It is considered the height of politeness to call at 
the house of your hostess the next day immediately follow- 
ing the dinner to congratulate her upon the success of the 
event. The customary etiquette, however, requires a call 
within the week, on her day at home. 

The ceremonies connected Avith the giving of a state 
dinner by Queen Victoria are not unduly elaborate. The 
guests, standing in the form of a crescent, await in the 
drawing-room the entrance of Her Majesty, which is made 
without announcement. The guest of honor sits at the 
Queen's right hand and the royal family on the left. There 
are three servants to six guests, one to pass the food to the 
guests, one to take away the empty dishes, and one to go 
for the food. Her Majesty eats at a state dinner without 
any gloves, and when the dinner is finished the Queen leaves 
the room first. The precedence at private dinners in Great 
Britain is as follows : Foreign ambassadors take precedence 
of the British nobles ; archbishops rank with dukes ; bishops 
with earls ; foreign counts and barons take no j)i'ecedence 
but rank with British baronets or great landed proprietors ;, 
and in untitled precedence an earl's grandson or near 
relatives of the aristocracy precede the esquires or country 
gentlemen ; next come wives of country gentlemen of no 
profession ; then barristers and their wives, naval officers 
and their wives, then military men and their wives. Phy- 
sicians are ranked in the royal household next to knights. 



1 



V vJa'3a 



